Tuesday, May 09, 2006

The Ballad of Katherine, Jeb, and W. - How to Handle a Stolen Election

Here’s a rather awkward photograph that should be in the history books, but probably won’t be. We have Katherine Harris who worked with Florida Governor Jeb Bush to throw Election 2000 to George W., talking to President Bush while brother Jeb looks on. She knows what many Americans didn’t bother to find out: Florida wasn’t about chads and dimpled ballots. That was smoke and mirrors. The real story was the well-documented removal by Jeb and Katherine of around 90,000 residents from the rolls of registered voters, the vast majority of them Democrats and a big percentage African Americans. The method was to hire a private company to replace the one that was to check these names, pay them a ton more money, and make sure of the results. Citizens with the same names as felons from other states were removed. When local election officials complained that the date of the felony was often a year that hadn’t happened yet, such as 2007, they were instructed to keep the name on the ineligible list and just remove the year. Of course, the whole scam was unlawful. Florida was stolen in 2000, so unless you’re in the 31% who still approve of this President, you can feel better: It took a crime to give us the Bush administration. Now Katherine Harris is running for the Senate and the Republicans want her to withdraw. Just yesterday Jeb said she had no chance. So here’s Katherine talking the President’s ear off today, and the Bush brothers are trying to lose her like the psycho prom date that won't go home. But they have to tread lightly because she knows the real story. They know if she turns on them, it could get ugly. Why, oh why, won’t she just go away? So this photo today was 2 things: Awkward and Dangerous.